The Top 202 Generation 6 Games Ever According to SnS - Part 1by Sliders n' Socks

#202 - Orphen: Scion of Sorcery
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - Believe it or not, back then, this game meant a huge deal to me since it was the first to give me a taste of what the PS2 was capable of when compared to the Dreamcast. Nowadays, the combat leaves something to be desired, but I still think it's an entertaining game based on an entertaining series.

#201 - Mars Matrix
Chosen by: Rhete

Rhete - A great shmup with a unique system based around tossing an enemy's bullets back at them, and then grabbing all the gold cubes that come flying back at you. Everything about it feels so good and satisfying.

#200 - The Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - The game isn't much more than a pretty straightforward and functional beat-em-up, but it was lots of fun as a rental. It seemed odd at the time that half the game was a retelling of the first movie, though I later found out it was originally developed as an adaption to the first film!

#199 - Unlimited SaGa
Chosen by: Freezing Inferno

Freezing Inferno - On the list solely because I honestly admire the brass fucking balls that Akitoshi Kawazu had in releasing this twisted nightmare mess of a digital tabletop campaign unto the world. It is 100% pure SaGa, appropriately named since Kawazu apparently held none of his gonzo design decisions back when making the thing. Admirable as a product of the direct line of his vision, but few would praise it for anything else.

#198 - Xenosaga Episode II:Jenseits von Gut und Bose
Chosen by: Polly

Polly - While this game's gameplay suffers quite a bit from feeling unfinished (and I've trashed it quite heavily on the site in the past), it's the story that's the driving force. A wonderfully touching journey through the bonds that connect main characters Jr., Albedo, and Nigredo with a conclusion that will turn you into a little John Thyer once it's reached its climax.

#197 - Black
Chosen by: Vanor Orion

Vanor Orion - We may as well put a shooter on this list, so let's put a unique one on here. This game barely has a story to it, but that's not why you play this game. It's all spectacle, and it's pretty as hell, and that's before you factor in the destructible environments, or the fucking beautiful explosions, or the meticulously modeled weapons that you can use that quickly turn the scenery into something resembling a John Woo film. Definitely give it a try sometime.

#196 - The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess
Chosen by: jetstorm4

jetstorm4 - The Gamecube version of Twilight Princess was ignored by me for a long time, as I bought the Wii version at launch. Nonetheless, I've played it now and do consider it a good game. While not one of my favorite Zelda games, I come back to it from time to time as I think the dungeons are some of the best in the series.

#195 - Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Chosen by: Pauncho Smith

Pauncho Smith - This was the game I wanted since childhood. To be certain, I did have the King of the Monsters series to go to get my fix of hot monster-on-monster action, but an actual licensed Godzilla brawler, and one that was actually GOOD? The game sports a respectable roster of monsters from the major films (although it did feel padded out with two Godzillas and two Ghidorahs) and the game controls pretty well. Nothing revolutionary, but it's one of those games that you're simply happy to know exists, even if it took a while for a game to come around and do some justice to the franchise.

#194 - Clock Tower 3
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - A lot of people seem to hate this one because of the boss battles and for ditching the point and click gameplay. Personally, I thought it was good enough to warrant my approval as a Clock Tower fan. Besides, anything is better than the dreadful Struggle Within.

#193 - Project Inthri 2
Chosen by: Crono Maniac

Crono Maniac - It's a blast to play in its own right, and it's cool to see the threads that would eventually make their way into great games like Project Inthri 3 and Hunters.

#192 - Dynamite Cop
Chosen by: Dr. No

Dr. No - Back when I was a kid, this game was pretty damn fun. It was a beat up in which you used certain things in the environment to fight your enemies in addition to your fists such as...hair spray and frozen tuna! The QTEs in the game were actually pretty good in that if you failed them, you didn't get a game over instead you would just fight extra enemies or have slightly lower health.

#191 - Halo: Combat Evolved
Chosen by: Polly

Polly - Believe the hype. This game is as good as everyone says. Some of the level design may be sloppy, but the core of what made Halo was there. Tactical combat with foes who were as menacing as they were smart and resourceful as well as some choice setpieces made for an amazingly fun campaign that's still a great ride start to finish. Oh, and I guess people like playing multiplayer, but eh.

#190 - Grand Theft Auto 3
Chosen by: Carmichael Micaalus

Carmichael Micaalus - Work for the mafia! Kill the mafia! Kill whoever! Steal cars, drive around town, cause mayhem! While it wasn't the first open world action adventure style game, it really brought it to light and what it could do.

#189 - Rival Schools:Project Justice
Chosen by: Voodoo Groove

Voodoo Groove - One of Capcom's fighters that's had a severe lack of love, Rival Schools ends up as a surprisingly solid 3D fighter, considering the era its from. None of the character designs are gonna win any awards, but almost all of them are fun or goofy enough to be likeable. There were some very cool mechanics at work, such as sacrificing meter to stop an opponent's super in a first-hit-wins duel between assist characters and a unique tag system.

#188 - Pier Solar and the Great Architects
Chosen by: jetstorm4

jetstorm4 - I didn't get to talk about this game during the Genesis list, as I had not played through it yet. Now that Pier Solar is on Dreamcast, I'm allowed to talk about it here. What started as a homebrew Genesis RPG has become a full independent game in it's own right. Pier Solar is interesting because of its scope. Its story starts as a small problem that unravels into a great mystery about the state of the universe. It's also a game that plays with RPG balance in an interesting way, as it's possible to beat the game without fighting any random battles. One of my favorite independent games.

#187 - Ghosthunter
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - Here's a weird one: a first person shooter pseudo-serious pseudo-survival horror game where you play as snarky chap with a spectral Super Soaker voiced by Yakko Warner. While I suppose the setting and game mechanics could be considered F.E.A.R. Lite, it stands out in my mind for trying to do something different in the console FPS genre in an era when either not being Halo or directly copying Halo was a fast-track to obscurity. Gee, I wonder how the next Killzone game is shaping up.

#186 - R-Type Final
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - It plays a lot like R-Type Delta, only slower. It also plays a lot like Gran Turismo in the sense that you get to have your very own garage for parking all sorts of spaceships, even though you'll probably just end up using only two or three of them for regular play. Battle AI was the most retarded mode I've ever seen in a videogame.

#185 - Musashi: Samurai Legend
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - Oh man, do I remember all the Brave Fencer Musashi fans tearing this one apart back when it was released just because it was dumbed-down (this was long before the AAA industry started dumbing-down games for a mainstream audience mind you). I, however, found it to be a quite enjoyable, if sub-par clone of Kingdom Hearts. It stands on its own for what is worth.

#184 - Bangai-O
Chosen by: Rhete

Rhete - This is a game where you fly around, intentionally get as close to enemy bullets as possible, in order to COUNTER ATTACK and fire like 200 missiles back at enemies. It's amazing.

#183 - Baldur's Gate:Dark Alliance
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - A nice, early PS2 Diablo-clone with co-op multiplayer! Lots of fun playing this one with the little sister (who affectionatly refers to the game as "Baldyman's Gate"), swapping health and mana potions and desperately trying to keep each other alive. While Diablo 3 did a rather admirable job in filling the sort of niche this game provided for later console generations, I honestly think this game's a little bit less boring, annoying platforming sections notwithstanding.

#182 - Jak II
Chosen by: Carmichael Micaalus

Carmichael Micaalus - Take the first game and combine it with GTA and add a large dollop of grimdark. Jak is no longer a silent protagonist, and the difficulty has been ramped up to ridiculous levels. It still quickspawns you upon death though, so that makes the higher difficulty much more tolerable. The gameplay moved from Mario 64 style of collecting things to mission oriented tasks, directly affecting the story like the GTA series. The racing segments were pretty alright as well.

#181 - King of Fighter XI
Chosen by: Voodoo Groove

Voodoo Groove - One of the better KoF rosters, in my opinion. Gotta love the Garou crew and Vanessa. I should've put more time into this game, but, you know... Street Fighter 3.

#180 - Gunbird 2
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - Psikyo perfected a very specific shmup formula that they proceeded to endlessly reskin (which to begin with was a clone of the Aero Fighters games that the future Psikyo staffers created while under Video System). The Gunbird games were more Parodius-esque entries in terms of cuteness/stupidity. The Dreamcast version includes Morrigan from Darkstalkers as a playable character, plus there's an ending where the flying carpet dude achieves his dream of making everyone in the world fat.

#179 - Star Fox Adventures
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - It's not the Star Fox game that everybody wanted, but I still think it was a very fun alternative to the 3D Zelda games. Still, I believe we can all agree about the one thing that was 100% right with it.

#178 - The Bard's Tale
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - For me, this was the most memorable Diablo clone of its time. The humor was fantastic and its Scottish setting really immersed you. Hardcore fans of the series may cry fowl upon this departure, but nothing changes the fact that it's a very entertaining game.

#177 - Kingdom Under Fire:The Crusaders
Chosen by: Dr. No

Dr. No - KUF is a rare example of a real time strategy game actually being done pretty well on a console game. It was a pretty unknown game when the series first popped up on the PC, but due to its unexpected popularity with this entry it actually did pretty well, I really wish they didn't go with a hack and slash direction of the most recent one through.

#176 - 007 Nightfire
Chosen by: Freezing Inferno

Freezing Inferno - I missed the golden age of multiplayer James Bond games in the late 90's with Goldeneye on N64. That's a shame, but this right here is my multiplayer James Bond experience. The single player campaign is decent, sure, but shooting friends is always fun. Hit 'em with guided missiles, lay laser mines, fuck 'em up with a goddamn Moonraker laser. Hell, it even had its own version of Odd Job with Nick Nack, and don't think that little guy didn't make the salt mines profitable within my heart when people played as him.

#175 - Mega Man X:Command Mission
Chosen by: Carmichael Micaalus

Carmichael Micaalus - A Megaman RPG game! Neat! This game was made in the era of grimdark being the new thing, which shows, but despite that, I still found it to be a fairly fun game. Sadly, this is also when I had more games than time, and I never did actually beat it (I think I reached the last area; not sure why I stopped, either).

#174 - Forgotten Realms:Demon Stone
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - A D&D property that plays like an overhead action puzzler without much in the way of RPG elements... sounds bizarre, but I kind of regard it as a Zelda-perspective precursor to Trine in a way. Also features notorious Mary Sue Drizzt Do'Urden as a playable character (for about five minutes). Did I mention that the late Michael Clarke Duncan and motherfucking SIR PATRICK STEWART are in this game?

#173 - Metal Gear Solid:The Twin Snakes
Chosen by: Pauncho Smith

Pauncho Smith - This is really the only time I ever sat down and experienced the MGS series for myself in any meaningful way (I did sit back and watch other play through some of the other games in the series, looked weird). I was immediately struck at how batshit bonkers the game was willing to go while still trying to exude this rough and rugged super-serious tone. Of course, with Snake being able to look at girly posters, having a British twin brother (I think, I refuse to investigate the lore any further), and Otakon pissing himself, there was really no way I could take anything this game threw at me seriously.

But hey, wacky stuff dressed in fatigues is why we came to the dance. The boss fights are especially outrageous, and Psycho Mantis seriously had me freaking out for a moment when he correctly guessed all of the Gamecube titles I had played recently (before I learned he was just reading off whatever was on my memory card, the cheating bastard). By the end of it, I was glad I came along for the ride, but I think I'll limit my time with the series to this game.

#172 - Kuon
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - Imagine, if you will, a traditional Resident Evil game that swapped all of its western horror and zombie tropes in favor of youkai thematics from japanese folklore. You get a very underrated and overlooked horror game that feels quite refreshing. Oh, did I mention this was made by From Software? You know, the same company who brought us the amazing Souls series?

#171 - The Adventures of MikeMan 2
Chosen by: Crono Maniac

Crono Maniac - Rhete's made a ton of rad games! This is the first one. It has killer comic timing, and you can really see its DNA in his later work (especially with the ridiculous escalating climax).

#170 - Growlanser:Wayfarer of Time
Chosen by: Dr. No

Dr. No - This is the best Growlanser out there compared to all the rest of them, I enjoyed that it was a bit of a political story aside from all the magical stuff that was occurring in it.

#169 - SimCity 4
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - I remember picking this one up in 6th Grade, at one of these functions where we could cash in points earned from doing a lot of "Reading Counts/Accelerated Reader" book quizzes over the school year. The game ran pretty badly on a budget Compaq from the turn of the millennium, but it still scratched a lot of the same itches Roller Coaster Tycoon had previously. Plus, it still ran a helluva lot better than SimCity 2000 did on the SNES, which actually isn't saying much, but still. While I was never very good at balancing budgets and keeping my cities from becoming hives of scum and villainy, I did enjoy upending my failed attempts with disasters that would scar the earth and leave it uninhabitable. I also liked building up cities and naming them after locales from my old stories, often naming them after the evil empire or capital because of how run-down my cities would become. The music was pretty great, too! Nice, relaxing stuff.

#168 - Jet Set Radio Future
Chosen by: Voodoo Groove

Voodoo Groove - Like the original, but faster, smoother, and with better music and more characters. Cool.

#167 - Giga Wing 2
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - Takumi did the arcade-shooter-that-got-ported-to-the-Dreamcast thing alongside Psikyo, and while Giga Wing 2 followed the same mechanics as its predecessor only now on a 3D engine, it ramped up the insanity A LOT. These games utilize a shot reflector mechanic, having you memorize the optimum time to use your reflector against danmaku patterns that modern games would just expect you to dodge outright. I loved these games' grody industrial setting, it seemed that much more oppressive ekeing your way past an onslaught of pink bullets against such a joyless landscape. Also, the storyline of this game sees the android chick becoming a real girl at the end, or something. Well, hopefully an actual real girl and not just a Real Doll.

#166 - Sudeki
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - A british love letter to the JRPGs of old from the 16-bit era.

#165 - Dance Dance RevolutionExtreme 2
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - Fun at parties, at least until your older brother coerces you to play on the mat for his stupid jock friends, so they can laugh at your lack of coordination. And then, when your younger sister manages to surpass you in skill because her internal sense of rhythm is better than yours, you go off into a self-destructive spiral about how you'll continually be overshadowed by your high-achieving siblings-

ANYWAY, this one's got the best music selection of the PS2 games, and I've a lot of actually good memories of playing this one with family and friends. My fondness for rhythm-based games and electronica music more or less sprang from playing this one so much.

#164 - Kill.Switch
Chosen by: Polly

Polly - While Winback may have done it first, Kill.Switch did the third person cover shooter better, and many AAA games released today owe their very existence to this game and how well it showed off those mechanics.

Carmichael Micaalus - A 3-D platformer for the PS2. While the story may not have been anything to write home about, it had pretty fun gameplay, a good amount of humour, and a quick reload after death, keeping you in the game longer (which more games need to do, really).

#162 - Nightshade
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - So the Shinobi series got a revival on the PS2 that was kind of overlooked in the wake of SOME OTHER classic ninja series' new installment on the XHUGE... and maybe lesser known is this followup where you play as a lady ninja. This game is fucking hard too, you really have to master that Tate system and air-dashing between enemies as a platforming mechanic in order to even see the later levels.

#161 - The Legacy of Kain:Soul Reaver 2
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - This is where my love for narrative driven experiences began, provided they were well narrated of course. Soul Reaver 2 continued the gripping tale from its prequel at the expense of some worse combat, but it never overstayed its welcome.

#160 - Turok: Evolution
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - Met one of my best friends now partially over a shared fascination with this game, as awkward and dumb as it was. I wasn't aware of the N64 games that came before it, and having dinosaurs and comical amounts of gibs and gore made this one a hit for the Middle School boys demographic. Some of our first novelling attempts were even based on, or inspired by, this game!

It's not the most polished game, but its obscurity relative to its peers make my memories of playing it all the more personal and warm. There really isn't anything like bonding over throwing antimatter cubes at each others' faces, and then writing silly self-insert stories about it.

#159 - Doom 3
Chosen by: Polly

Polly - Doom 3 was released at a time when huge advances were being made to first-person shooter game mechanics as well as graphics and physics tech. Its simple run and gun gameplay mixed with elements of general creepiness and penchant for jump scares were a breath of fresh air in a time when it seemed everyone wanted to be Halo.

#158 - Cannon Spike
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - Do you like Smash TV? How about a Smash TV-style game with some crazy huge bosses where you can play as Capcom characters such as Cammy and Mega Man? Does that sound like somebody's fan game wet dream? Well, it exists, and as a non-fighting game on the Naomi arcade hardware and a late lifecycle Dreamcast release, I doubt too many people remember it.

Pixel Crusher - As far as Asterix games go, XXL2 shines brightly for its plethora of gaming references and parodies, with the added bonus of providing some solid beat 'em up and platforming gameplay. A true gem among gems within the PS2's vast library of games.

#156 - The Suffering
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - One day, Midway decided that they could do their own take on psychological horror... and it worked! Granted, it's more horrific for its violence than its story, but I still applaud to them for creating one of the most underrated and overlooked horror games of the generation.

#155 - Seiklus
Chosen by: Crono Maniac

Crono Maniac - "In Seiklus, you can practically smell the sunshine," as a friend said. The game brims with human warmth. It was a tiny revolution, put together in just six months in Game Maker and released in 2003, when these kinds of personal, stripped-down videogames weren't as common. There's no death and no violence. All it asks is for you develop a relationship with its world.

#154 - Shogo:Mobile Armor Division
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - An ugly, buggy mess of a FPS, with a hideous faux-Japanese aesthetic and a shocking tendency to kill you with doors. Also, unironically one of my favorite PC shooters from the era? I'm not sure how to reconcile these two thoughts, but I won't deny I had a ton of fun with this one back during those middle school summers, on days when our shitty dial-up connection wouldn't stay connected for more than 30 minutes, and I had to find my fun elsewhere. It might have been because the game felt like it had a narrative more interesting than the stuff Halo and other somewhat-contemporary FPSs were pushing, where you're the hero and everyone seems pretty eager to remind you of this fact at every turn. It felt pleasant having characters with motivations and ambitions interacting with you, and objectives that sometimes went outside of the standard "navigate this corridor, kill everything in your path" setup. It's a game I hesitate to return to now, as I'm sure the story or gameplay isn't nearly as interesting as it was then, but the fond memories of having to consult a walkthrough to look for an old lady's cat will always remain in my heart.

Vanor Orion - The original game was kind of like the original Persona in that it was sort of rough around the edges, and was R&D1's first attempt at an action RPG with the SMT/MI brand. While it wasn't NEARLY as crude as Persona was, it still suffered in the actual gameplay. However, like Persona 2, King Abaddon took what the original did, and overhauled the hell out of it and polished it to a mirror sheen. In a lot of ways I find this game is thematically similar to the Persona 2 games, in that they both deal with abstract ideas having a tangible impact on reality. The story itself picks up after Soulless Army, and has you dealing with locusts that steal people's good fortune and can be used to transfer it to another person, leading to highly polarized incidents of either really good luck, or really bad shit happening, like giant grasshoppers falling from the sky and sawblading people in half. Soulless Army was a more light-hearted game, this one, however, dives headfirst into all of the tropes of MegaTen, including appearances by a morally ambiguous Lucifer, and some hard choices that lead to two distinct endings demarcated along the classic Law/Chaos boundaries. This game also may have the best soundtrack in the entire SMT series.

This game definitely fixes the issues that Soulless Army had, and also improves upon the things that were lacking in that game. The action RPG combat itself has been greatly improved, and is now super fast, responsive, and most importantly, tactile. You really feel it when you exploit an enemy's weakness and start kicking the shit out of them with your sword. Raidou consequently feels like a badass, and looks like a boss when he speed loads his Nambu. Nevermind the fact that he's keeping company with the adorable Summoner Trainee Nagi, and her badass mentor, Geirin Kuzunoha, whose exploits in the US of A are hinted at with his moveset, something I really appreciate about this series. I would totally love to see a MegaTen in the Wild West.

#152 - X-Men Legends II:Rise of Apocalypse
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - Before the heyday of the "cram franchise X into Dynasty Warriors" formula, Marvel seemed to be on a bent of licensing their properties for a bunch of games that play like Gauntlet with RPG-lite elements. Legends 2 sees the X-Men teaming up with villains like Magneto and Juggernaut, a completely original concept that I'm sure never happened before or since, to battle the forces of Apocalypse, giving you a party of four characters where you switch your playable character any time within a mission. There's a between-mission trivia game that can net you some extra experience points, which was good for me since I played the game during a bout of renewed interest in comics, and it was probably intense as hell for someone without immediate access to an X-Men wikia. You can also get Deadpool as a playable character, so good news for those of you who like memes.

#151 - Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Chosen by: Dr. No

Dr. No - Silmeria is a really good follow up to the first Valkyrie Profile, as it did a really good job of translating the combat from the first game into 3D. The story wasn't as good as the first one, but it still had plenty of great moments occur in the game. I really hope they get around to making a Valkyrie Profile: Hrist at some point.

#150 - Red Faction
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - Most fun I've ever had with a multiplayer FPS of this generation. Carving holes in walls with a rocket launcher was pointless when you had a railgun that could aim and shoot through walls, but these things didn't exist in those other games! The sheer novelty of what the game's engine allowed you to do within the context of an FPS made for some fun times.

#149 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Chosen by: Carmichael Micaalus

Carmichael Micaalus - First PS2 game I got, and the first Tony Hawk game I got, as well. The controls on it felt good, the music selection was great, and was an overall fun game.

#148 - Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic 2
Chosen by: Dr. No

Dr. No - As far as WRPGs go, this one was a much more interesting RPG than its predecessor with its grayer take on the Force. It wasn't like other Star Wars games with just Light and Dark Sides duking it out with each other as usual, KOTOR2 was a lot more personal than that. Plus the added variety in builds (Why yes, I can go certainly go Kung Fu Jedi if I so chose :D) combined with the far more interesting characters you encountered makes this sequel better than the original.

#147 - Yu-Gi-Oh!The Duelists of the Roses
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - Honestly, the game isn't much more than a competent attempt at blending a card game with SRPG elements, but, damn if it wasn't fun back in 5th grade! Even now, I still feel it stands out as a unique take on your typical card game, way more ambitious than the glut of straight YGO card game conversions on portable systems.

From what I can gather, the team behind this game also worked on Forbidden Memories and The Falsebound Kingdom. I haven't played those games, but given what I've heard of them, Duelists might actually be the best of the three xD

#146 - Jak 3
Chosen by: Carmichael Micaalus

Carmichael Micaalus - The conclusion to the Jak trilogy, things from the second game have been fine-tuned and the difficulty has been rebalanced. Not much else to say, other than I did find it to be a good conclusion to the story, and I found it more enjoyable than Jak II.

#145 - Kirby Air Ride
Chosen by: Voodoo Groove

Voodoo Groove - Not terribly deep, but packed to the rafters with unlockables (as Sakurai is wont to do). I never tired of city ride mode, and with a few friends, you can eat away hours jumping between modes and trying out new vehicles. It's also experienced an odd amount of modding support (check out Air Ride Modoki).

Pixel Crusher - A very underrated and overlooked horror game that manages to capture the essence of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos to its best.

#143 - Power Stone
Chosen by: Pixel Crusher

Pixel Crusher - A fantastic brawler by none other than Capcom in its prime.

#142 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Chosen by: Freezing Inferno

Freezing Inferno - The first game of its kind I ever played for myself. What do you call these? Open world crime simulators? Anyway, it was very good and eye-opening and also a fun fuckaround game. Plus it has an 80's aesthetic and I'm a gigantic nerd for this kind of thing. It would be done better later, mostly by Saint's Row, but this was special to me back in the day.

#141 - Mario Power Tennis
Chosen by: Voodoo Groove

Voodoo Groove - Another in the list of awesome Gamecube party games, the roster was pretty unique and the extra modes were surpisingly fun. Multiplayer Gamecube games were really stuffed with content, weren't they? Plus, the special shots each character could perform were only /mildly/ game-breaking.

#140 - Parappa the Rapper 2
Chosen by: jetstorm4

jetstorm4 - "SAY ALRIGHT! SAY AWW YEAH! WHAT YOU GONNA DO? I GOTTA BELIEVE!" Still my favorite rhythm game ever. I can't get enough of the music in this game.

"Noodles are the best no doubt can't deny..."

#139 - Resident EvilCODE: Veronica
Chosen by: Rhete

Rhete - The game that should have been Resident Evil 3. Long as hell with multiple characters and a better story than the previous games. I've heard this game doesn't hold up at all but I remember loving it at the time.

#138 - Dokapon Kingdom
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - Of all the games on this list, on this entire list of Gen 6 games, this is the game I'd most like to see ported to Steam with online multiplayer. A nice, cutesy boardgame RPG that feels a bit like Dragon Quest Monopoly, which can easily veer into fucking Salt Lake City with just how vicious competition can get in the game. Getting K.O.'d multiple times in a row due to bad RNG can be pretty disheartening, until you pull yourself into the lead by making a few bribes and deals with the devil here and there, inflicting status ailments to one player while stealing outright from another. And then you laugh as the blue warrior lady with the poo hairstyle, your avatar of conquest, finally pulls ahead in the weekly earnings. Such a sublime feeling, right until your "friends" ally themselves against you and throw your shit back in your shitty-haired face, which becomes even more vexing when one player decides to shave your hair off completely after K.O.-ing you. You curse, you rage, you throw your controller at the screen and vow to never play with your backstabbing asshole friends again. But no one takes you seriously because they know you're lying, and you know you're lying, and y'all just get back to playing after 5 minutes and a quick snack break. Such fun times.

#137 - Psi-Ops:The Mindgate Conspiracy
Chosen by: Polly

Polly - Psi-Ops is an often overlooked little gem that could use a bit more recognition. While it may appear to be a fairly milquetoast third-person shooter, it's the psychic powers you accumulate as you progress through the game that make it a blast to play. Flinging dudes around and popping folks' heads off their fucking necks never felt so good.

#136 - Final Fantasy X-2
Chosen by: Carmichael Micaalus

Carmichael Micaalus - A lot of people bitch about this game, but I've also come to the conclusion a lot of people are fucking stupid. To each their own, though. Game takes place in a world no longer plagued by an endless cycle of death, which is kind of neat, really. (There is, of course, a new conflict.) I found it to be fun like its predecessor, and the reintroduction to the job system into the FF series was nice as well... and the fact the combat was built around the ability to change jobs in mid combat was pretty awesome.

#135 - Power Stone 2
Chosen by: Voodoo Groove

Voodoo Groove - I love the presentation of Power Stone 2. The announcer is so bombastic it seems natural that you'd hear his voice shouting in an arcade, and the crazy stage transitions stand up to any craziness from the Smash Bros. series. Another frantic party game with enough semblance of planning and skill to remain enjoyable. I just wish there were more levels.

#134 - Dead or Alive 2
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - I never really got into Virtua Fighter, as Tekken was more my jam, but this was the next best thing I suppose. More like Voluptua Fighter. More like Virtua Boober. More like Titty Meat Tournament.

#133 - Gitaroo Man
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - The Dark So- no, there's a better comparison to be made here. It's the Contra: Hard Corps of rhythm games; it's really tough to get into, complete with boss encounters that slowly ramp up into utter ridiculousness. But once you've found your groove and become better equipped to deal with what the game throws at you, usually by failing and crying a whole bunch, there's this sense of immense empowerment, a burning in one's soul to see the game to its conclusion. And when that conclusion comes, a duel of guitars in space for the fate of the universe, you feel like just the baddest ass.

One day, I'm gonna git gud enough to bring myself to that ending with my own hands. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy listening to that sweet, sweet soundtrack.

#132 - Marvel vs. Capcom
Chosen by: Voodoo Groove

Voodoo Groove - Not as flashy or beloved as its sequel, but I think the first MvC could stand a little more love. The fundamental gameplay present here strikes a good balance between your Dark Stalkers and your complete bonkers MvC2. In fact, out of everything Skullgirls takes elements from, I'd say this is the game it most resembles.

jetstorm4 - Now here's an RPG I dont' hear get talked about often. Baten Kaitos was an RPG that came out after Tales of Symphonia, and I didn't play it for quite a while. I got it later on though, and it actually made card games fun. The game has you customizing decks for characters instead of equipment, and the battle system has an element of matching numbers and straights in order to pull off combos- while random at times, can get pretty fun once you figure it out. It's also a game where you are not the main character, but a spirit on the outside controlling the main character. It does some pretty cool things with that idea as well.

#130 - Gungrave
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - While not quite having the meat that Devil May Cry brought to the 3D action table before it, Gungrave turned up the zazz and insantiy for a stylized combo-em-up that makes for good "blow everything away" therapy. KICK THEIR ASS!

#129 - Kanon
Chosen by: Zeloz

Zeloz - While some would argue that Key's first formal entry into Visual Novelling isn't the best in terms of writing or characters (an argument I would not go against, honestly), its impact on eroge visual novels anime Japanese pop culture in general cannot be denied. To be clear, the whole "moeblob" aesthetic existed well before this game's debut in 1998, but the popularity of this game and others like it brought it to the forefront of Japanese culture.

Okay, so that's probably more of a capital offense than an appraisal, but think of it this way: if Kanon hadn't happened, then we wouldn't have the subversions, the Katawa Shoujos and the When They Crys, which set out to turn Kanon's childish views on love and tragedy on their malformed heads. It's damning praise, to be sure, but I needed something smarter than "fuck this game, makin' me cry even though the writing's not that great" to say.

Freezing Inferno - Ahh, Touhou. I long assumed that this would be a nut I'd never crack. I mean, a game with a zillion billion bullets? TOUCH ANYTHING, YOU DIE? OH MY GOD, IMPOSSIBLE! Then some foolish lady bet I couldn't beat it and I plugged at it. Three days later, I 1CC'd the damn thing. Holy christ. It's frenetic and frantic and I probably couldn't pull it off today, after two years away from it, but goddamn if I didn't have fucking fun with the thing. Sakuya Izayoi is best girl because she and I defeated this game together with knives and shit.

#127 - NHL Hitz
Chosen by: Vanor Orion

Vanor Orion - I'm not sure if I should classify this as a sports game or a fighting game, because you can piss each other off and start randomly having a fighting game break out during a hockey match, complete with health bar and all. I'm not a big sports fan, but DAMN this game was just pure unadulterated fun. You don't need to be an expert at Hockey to enjoy this game, with or without friends. It's always fucking awesome when you check somebody against the glass, and consecutive goals will have lighting rain down your players and bathe them in fire. This game is a blast and if you got a GC or PS2 or whatever you totally owe it to yourself to check it out, sports fan or no.

#126 - Suikoden Tactics
Chosen by: Bpwner

Bpwner - I don't hear too many people wax nostalgic about Suikoden Tactics like they do with Suikoden II, but as someone who doesn't have much patience for SRPGs that aren't called Shining Force 2, I thought this was all right. It has a terrain affinity system that you can exploit and you can recruit some particularly broken returning characters from Suikoden IV (hello, Sigurd). Had a goat mom about a decade before Undertale.